Different Time, Different Place
by azehcaz
Summary: It was supposed to be a normal birthday in the 21st Century. But hey, even Disney told us not to mess with Voodoo. A different take on the third game, with a split Paragon/Renegade male Shepard. How much will change with the addition of a human from the year 2015?
1. Proluge - Entry 1

**Author's Note**

 **Disclaimer:** The usual I guess. None of the works bar the original character are my own. A lot of the dialogue between characters will be pulled from the game, some of it will be edited and changed just slightly to fit in with having an original character run around; but apart from that, I will try and keep it as cannon as possible. I'll probably end up playing the game as I write this, so I can keep things in line and whatnot as I can as well.

Reviews...help. They give my muse a good kick in the pants, making me want to write, but it also lets me know whether people are enjoying what I do or not. I mean, if no one is enjoying, there is little point in continuing to write, right? Heh. Anyway. Forgive my nerves and...well...here goes nothing.

 **Proluge.**

Entry 1. – Recount. Earth 24/09/2015

I figured I should write all this down for some reason, which is funny, seeing as nothing is written on paper this far in the future. Hell, I don't even know where Dr. Chakwas got this from for me. Good egg, that one. I guess it's always been this way, though. The moment I can't do something easily or at all, I want to do it. Kinda like talking to my folks.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, see? Just a routine birthday outing to celebrate my twenty-third year alive. For laughs, we went and saw a witch woman to get our palms read and all that jazz. Used to always think that stuff was a load of crap. Still do, to be honest. Not entirely sure if I'm just dreaming and I'm going to wake up at any moment or what. But right now, I'm in the med bay of a space ship days after being spaced because I went and had a private reading with a witch woman. Maybe she sent me? Ah hell, look at me. I'm starting to believe in all that voodoo magic crap. But honestly? It's a little confronting really.

Dr. Chakwas says recording things will help me keep my mind together, but I didn't want to use the 'vid' thing to do that. Hell, maybe I'll dictate this onto a data pad later but for now, I want to be able to feel things, have them be tangible under my fingers even if I can't read my own handwriting. The smooth sensation of pen under my fingers, the rough ridges of paper under my palm…it helps keep me grounded. They're about to fit me for a thing called an omni-tool. It will give me the ability to understand the aliens, as well as open doors, be identified; that sort of thing. Comms as well, now I think of it. I'm not overly keen to have them stick some chip under my arm, but I've seen everyone else using them, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't pique my interest. Oh, yeah, aliens. So far I can remember the Asari and the Turian. I know there's others, one starting with an 'S' and one that sounds like Program, but Dr. C says it's gonna take me time to take in new information anyway. Something about shock. I don't mind so much, though. With the pressure off, it'll make assimilation easier, anyway.

But hell. If I'm going to do this, I should start at the beginning. Right. I'll get this tool installed, and then we'll go from there.


	2. Entry 2

Entry 2. – Normandy SR-2

Doctor Liara T'Soni, an Asari, was there when I appeared. She was kind enough to sit down with me, help me with the story. Her voice is surprisingly soothing, and her features are humanoid enough that I can almost forget that she's not one of us. Until you look up and take in the weird tentacle things…ridges, maybe…on her head. She's over 100 years old, but according to her peope, she's considered to still be only a young adult. Kinda makes her the same age as me, if you think about it relatively. Asari can live for over a thousand years, but then, according to Liara, humans are living to about a hundred-and-fifty, so that's going to be fun. Anyway, apparently I appeared on Mars, at a Prothean Archive facility. That's the name of one of the alien species. Prothean. Commander John Shepard, Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, Dr. T'Soni and Lieutenant James Vega were there looking for plans to take out the Reapers –giant fuck-off spider bug looking thigns that are trying to wipe out the whole of advanced organic life- and they were up against these Cerberus people, who were also trying to get the plans. James wasn't there when they found me, mind you. He'd been sent back for the shuttle as the getaway car, I guess.

It was in a room full of dead people; dead because a damned mechanical being (mech) vented the air in the room to space with everyone inside it. Witch couldn't have dumped me somewhere nicer, I guess. Liara seems to think I was sent there just before they arrived. Only way I could have survived, apparently. Ashley had found me, calling out to Shepard as she rushed to my side. Liara let me watch the armour camera they were wearing so I could see for myself.

"Someone get the room locked down!" There were Cerberus troops behind a glass window, troops that the Commander and Liara took care of easily. The former crouched below the glass then exploded up, dragging an unaware man over the edge, stabbing him with a knife-sword thing that appeared from what I now knew to be the omni-tool at his wrist. Liara made this glowing blue/purple orb appear, which dragged two of the men into the air as Shepard stood up, three shots echoing out as he took out the last enemy standing before popping the other two in the head as they floated, helplessly. Brutal, but now that organisation has been explained to me, I can kinda understand it. If he didn't, they would have done that to all of us.

"Here," Liara was speaking as she moved towards my body and Ashley, handing her an oxygen mask as they both moved me onto my side. It was weird, watching my body spasm as my brain sent out signals to try and keep my muscles from dying, to try and keep itself from dying. But the moment the mask was placed over my mouth, the spasms started to clear. Thank fuck for that. Dying would have been awkward. I almost jumped as I watched myself sit up with a jerk, Ash's arms bracing me as I scrabbled for any hold I could get, Liara keeping me from tearing the mask off my face. My breathing was fast, scrambled as my brain tried to regain control over everything.

"Steady," Ash murmured, helping me to sit up properly. "We've gotcha. Just keep breathing." I'm pretty sure I tried to speak at that moment, my eyes wide, but staring into space, showing no ability to focus, or indication that I could see. Liara had moved off, speaking to Shepard. I couldn't hear what was said, as my breathing into Ashley's head-cam was loud enough to cut out almost all other noise.

"I need to pressurise the room first,"

Ah. That part I heard. Air hissed into the room as my own breathing started to slow, and eventually Liara spoke again. "There." Almost immediately, everyone began taking off their masks, and Ashley took the one off my face. From this point on, I remember bits and pieces. I'm not sure if everything's in the right order or not, but I remember. It's not unlike the first time I got into the ring on Earth to fight. I remembered sweeping my opponent's leg, but it happened just before the final bell in the third round, rather than at the beginning, just as my nose got bloodied at the end of the first round, not the beginning, as I thought. So, I'll try to recount it as best as I can, but no promises.

My vision was returning slowly, as was the feeling in my fingertips. Someone was propping me up, that much I knew. I blinked a few times, trying to make things come together.

"Hey. Welcome back…" the person holding me up pulled the mask away, causing me to cough as funky tasting air hit my lungs.

"Shit," I mumbled, rubbing a hand over my face. "So this is a hangover. Did I pass out or something? What time is it? Where are we? How…"

My voice trailed off as I saw her. Blue. Weird helmet, looking at some crazy glow thing on her wrist. "Dude, nice costume. But it's not Halloween yet." For some reason, my mouth was opening and words were pouring out, words that I would stop, if I could help myself. The blue woman and the tall man next to her exchanged a glance of confusion that matched my own. The woman spoke, the words sounding weird, not making any sense. I brushed it off as a symptom, my brain still not working well enough to point out to me that I heard the woman who was helping me stand up perfectly. Then she spoke again, causing me to frown.

"You're on an Alliance base on Mars," she said as the blue one started peering at my eyes. Her skin felt rough, almost scaly as her fingers moved my eyelids out of the way. I almost pulled back. It was a really good costume. Would have been more comforting if she'd dressed as an Avatar, though.

"On Mars?" I laughed, which in turn caused me to groan as the noise reverberated in my head. "And I'm the one who's had too much to drink. Twenty-Fifteen, remember? There's a rover on Mars, but unless you count that really tiny woman people were trying to say was caught on that picture, there's not much else up there."

"Tiny woman?" the man spoke for the first time, raising a brow as he turned away from us, heading to a locker. "Liara?" The name was said as a question, the blue woman responding almost instantly. Liara. Right. I stashed the name away for later.

Again, Liara spoke words I couldn't understand, the unfamiliar language rolling off her tongue. Must have been Italian or something, or at least a language the two American's could understand, but perhaps not speak. Maybe that was why they kept replying in English.

"That would make sense, Commander," the brunette spoke again, still holding most of my weight as I tried to make my oxygen deprived muscles work, still gasping in fairly deep breaths, trying to not to hyperventilate. "Being spaced could cause that kind of trauma."

"Well, we can't just leave her here," the Commander spoke, my head nodding as I agreed. "Ash, you and Liara think you can cover her as we move through?"

This time I managed to make out the word 'commander' as Liara spoke. The man nodded his head and moved, holding out what looked like armour and a gun to Ash, who also nodded. Liara and the Commander moved away as Ash finally let go of me, letting me stand on my own two feet.

"Can you move?"

I nodded my head, rolling my shoulders to try and prove it.

"Good," Ash spoke again, holding out the clothing. "I need you to get into this. It's for your own protection. I'll activate the barrier's once you're in."

It wouldn't be hard to comply, and I wasn't about to argue as I'd just noticed the array of weapons on her back. No way was I arguing with these people. She buckled me in and I watched as the blue Liara spoke again, her fingers flying over the keyboard of one of the weird looking computers as the commander at her side followed, talking quietly to her, an exchange that finished with him looking what I'd peg as longingly over at Ash before grabbing the Asari by the shoulders, something he said seeming to reassure her.

Ash seemed to have noticed the look too, because she couldn't hide the colour in her cheeks as she handed me the pistol, quickly pointing out the safety and reload on it before handing it to me. The Commander and Liara moved back over to us, the former looking me up and down almost approvingly as I held the weapon easily in my right hand.

"Good. Let's go."

They had to be kidding, right? They wanted me to shoot a gun? A few experimental taps of buttons had caused it to whir and what I think I remembered the safety to click off. To my surprise, the noises earned me another look of approval rather than annoyance. I'd used guns before; hell, I'd been working in a firing range for almost four years before this incident. I knew how to shoot, I knew how to hold a smaller version of what I had in my hands right now, but to be honest, I preferred a bow. I liked the extra challenge involved with the manual, old school weapon, the one I had a home… I forced myself to turn my mind back to the situation, following the trio out of the booth and up the stairs. That was when I decided this had to be a dream, something my crazed subconsciousness had cooked up in its inebriated state. In turn, I relaxed, copying their movements with ease. Hell, if I was making this up in my head, I was at least going to make this dream fun for me.

If I'd thought the building I was in was weird, the door mechanism was weirder. I opened my mouth to say something, which was interrupted by an almost mechanical voice. I couldn't tell you what was said first, but the voice quickly followed up.

"No one gets in or out. Do you read me? Echo squad! Report!"

The room was empty, and the three wasted no time checking it for supplies. Almost immediately after picking something up, the commander started fiddling with his weapons, moving to a bench to make juggling the pieces of metal easier. As for me? I sidled over to lean against the wall next to the stairs, fiddling awkwardly with the gun, making sure to keep it pointed away from everyone, half watching Liara fiddle with the glowing orange thing at her wrist again.

"Hey, check this out," I didn't realise I'd spoken again until the words fell from my mouth. To my chagrin, it caused all of them to look at me as I pointed to the data pad.

"Shepard?" Ashley picked it up and handed it to him. Finally, I had a name. Shepard's face seemed to contort as he looked at it before shaking his head, putting it down.

"They didn't have any warning," he murmured, his eyes tightening with disgust. Liara gestured to me, saying something else as I looked at her in confusion.

"Her omni-tool must be malfunctioning," Ashley shook her head, moving towards me. "Liara was trying to introduce herself. Liara T'Soni, that's Commander Shepard over there. We don't bother with his first name. Don't think he knows how to respond to it anymore anyway. And I'm Ashley Williams. We're going to get you outta here, alright. Just…show Liara your omni-tool, and she'll fix up the translator."

"Omni-tool?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "I…don't have one of those," I mumbled, looking down at the ground. I didn't have to look to know all three of them had exchanged very surprised looks.

"How do you not have one?" Shepard took a step towards me, slipping his guns back into place on his body.

"Because, you're all a dream I'm having," I informed them, shrugging. "Apparently my alcohol drowned brain thought it was funny to catapult me years into the future in my mind, and make things confusing as hell. We don't have weird omni things. It's the twenty-first century on Earth."

Again, the looks were exchanged, but the subject was dropped, Ashley simply nudging me gently with a hand to get me to move in front of her.

The rest…I don't really remember, but I don't think it was overly important too. When the first head exploded, the first head that one of the rounds out of my gun found its way into, anyway, everything became a worse blur than before. I'd killed someone. I think that was when I realised this wasn't a dream. Or maybe it was the round that caught my armour, that made the pain explode through my body that caused me to realise. Either way…I wasn't exactly all there the whole time. I remember watching Shepard, though. They way he moved…he almost strode through a room Terminator style, an orange shield covering his armour, lights exploding from his hands…I don't think it's something anyone could forget.

There was also a giant gun. I couldn't forget that, either. They all moved a hell of a lot better than me. In the end Liara created this…barrier, and I simply ran. I knew I needed to be better after that. I needed to keep up. After the gun…I think it was a fight on a couple of trams. Ashley pretty much kept one hand on my head to keep me out of that one. Apparently getting better was going to have to wait. And then we were running again, running after that mech. Oh. Something happened in the middle where I found out that Ash and Shepard had totally boned at some point. But…I can't remember when. It was definitely before everything went to hell. Before James crashed a shuttle, knocking me out, and leading to the events that left Ashley in the bed next to me, her face one giant bruise from where the mech had tried, and pretty well succeeded, to kill her; the mech a burnt out husk across from us, and me left to deal with Liara working over Ash as I tried to stay awake.

Awake. Hah. Now would be about the time to be that, if this was a dream. It's been days since that first incident. I haven't seen anyone but Liara , Chakwas and Comms Specialist Samantha Traynor since they docked to get Ash into a hospital. I kinda want to go and see her, but she's in a pretty bad way. The Commander is in and out of the ship, but I haven' t seen him yet. Apparently he knocked out a reporter, though; but let another one board the ship. For now, I have to rest. I don't like Doctor's, but Chakwas kinda scares me, so for what'll almost be the first time in my life, I'll listen. I don't fancy being reprimanded.


End file.
